Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Nicolette Larson, Look in My Direction: The Warner Bros. Recordings (Cherry Red/Lemon/Second Disc) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red)

Look in My Direction: The Warner Bros. Recordings from Cherry Red's Lemon imprint and TSD presents all of the late Nicolette Larson's original studio and live albums for Warner Bros. Records on 4 CDs, produced by Ted Templeman (The Doobie Brothers, Van Halen) and singer-songwriter Andrew Gold ("Thank You for Being a Friend," "Lonely Boy"), plus bonus tracks.  The box contains newly remastered editions of Nicolette (1978), Live at the Roxy (1979), In the Nick of Time (1979), Radioland (1981), and All Dressed Up and No Place to Go (1982) which collectively include such guests as Linda Ronstadt; The Doobie Brothers' Michael McDonald, Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, Tiran Porter, John McFee, and Bobby LaKind; Little Feat's Bill Payne, Paul Barrere, and Fred Tackett; guitar gods Eddie Van Halen and Ronnie Montrose; Van Dyke Parks; Valerie Carter; Klaus Voormann; and many others.  The collection adds numerous bonus tracks including the Jim Burgess 12-inch Disco Mix of "Lotta Love," the super-rare soundtrack cut "Summer Hearts" from National Lampoon's Vacation, and Nicolette's duets with Emmylou Harris ("Hello Stranger"), Christopher Cross ("Say You'll Be Mine"), Steve Goodman ("The One That Got Away"), and The Doobie Brothers ("Sweet Feelin'").  Ted Carfrae has remastered, and TSD's Joe Marchese has penned the new liner notes.  Read more here!

Davy Jones, Music and Memories: The MGM Recordings (7a Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
U.S.: ImportCDs.com

A crucial missing link and must-have for any Monkee fan, this newly-remastered 13-track collection from 7a Records features all of Davy Jones' output for the MGM label, including a smattering of singles from 1972 and 1973 plus his turns on a 1978 London cast recording of Harry Nilsson's The Point! (Friend and bandmate Micky Dolenz guests on their take on Nilsson's "Gotta Get Up.") The deluxe packaging includes a booklet with previously unpublished photos and a new essay from TSD's own Joe Marchese! Read more about Davy's MGM recordings here!

Various Artists, The Chess Records Christmas Album (Chess/UMe)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Chess Records Christmas Album offers 14 unique entries in the Christmas canon, from Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run" and The Moonglows' "Hey Santa Claus" to obscure soul, jazz, and gospel fare from the likes of The Soul Stirrers, Kenny Burrell, The Meditation Singers, Rotary Connection, The Salem Travelers, and more. (A particular standout is an instrumental take on "The Little Drummer Boy" by the studio group Lenox Avenue, which featured session legends Chuck Rainey and Richard Tee. It's one of four new-to-digital tracks on the collection.) And this is a big day for your friends at TSD: we're pleased to share that the physical package includes liner notes by our own Mike Duquette! And that's not all from Chess today...just scroll down a bit!

The Rolling Stones, Black and Blue [Various Formats] (Interscope/UMe)

1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

4CD/BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
5LP/BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Rolling Stones' thirteenth studio album, 1976's Black and Blue, reached No. 1 in the United States and No. 2 in the band's native United Kingdom, and yielded a top ten hit single on both sides of the Atlantic with the ballad "Fool to Cry." Now, it's set for the super deluxe treatment, just shy of its 50th anniversary. Built around a brand-new remix by the ubiquitous Steven Wilson, the set will be released by Interscope and UMe in a variety of formats including 5LP or 4CD Super Deluxe Box Set; Limited Edition 5LP Marbled Vinyl Super Deluxe Box Set; 2LP / 2CD (Album + Outtakes & Jams); 1LP / 1CD (2025 Steven Wilson Mix); and 1LP Zoetrope Vinyl.  The expanded editions all feature the original album as remixed by Steven Wilson plus  a disc of previously unreleased recordings.  The Super Deluxe CD and LP sets continue with Live at Earls Court 1976, taken from the band's six-night May '76 residency at the (now-demolished) Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.  Billy Preston, Ian Stewart, and Ollie Brown - all of whom played on Black and Blue - joined them for the concerts.  The 5LP and 4CD SDEs also include a Blu-ray Disc with Wilson's new mixes in stereo and Dolby Atmos; stereo and Atmos audio of the Earls Court show; and a television broadcast of their Paris concert from just weeks later in June 1976.  These editions boast a 100-page hardcover book with liner notes by Paul Sexton, and a replica tour poster.  1CD or 1LP versions with Wilson's new album mix only are also available, along with a limited-edition zoetrope vinyl pressing.  A 5LP pressing on marbled "black and blue" vinyl is available from select retailers, including the Stones' official storefront, only. Get the full track listing and more here, and watch this space for a full review!

Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair: 40th Anniversary Editions (Mercury/UMe)

3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1LP (Coke Bottle): uDiscover Music / The Sound of Vinyl
1LP (Picture Disc): TFF Store / uDiscover Music / The Sound of Vinyl

Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair - still the crown jewel of the duo's discography, and easily its most-reissued - is getting some more pressings on CD and vinyl today to mark its 40th anniversary.  Already expanded on CD in 1999, 2006 and a 2014 box set, TFF's signature LP comes back into print as a 3CD set that offers most of the contents of that out-of-print box set: the original album, B-sides, various single edits and remixes. The original album will also be newly pressed on Coke bottle-clear vinyl as well as a picture disc featuring an era-appropriate image of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. A 2LP set, pressed on translucent red vinyl, offers an "alternate cut" of the album featuring versions of the LP's eight tracks mostly sourced from that aforementioned box set (six of them new to vinyl) and packed in a gatefold sleeve that features unused art from the original release. The picture disc and Coke bottle vinyl is retail exclusive (with the latter also available at indie retailers), while all the others are available generally. Read more here!

Green Day, Warning: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Reprise)

4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Green Day's sixth album, 2000's Warning, arrived nearly three years after the band's multi-platinum Nimrod.  It built on the expansive sound of Nimrod by incorporating even more varied textures drawing on pop and folk styles.  The 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Warning follows the basic format and box style (a clamshell for the CDs) of past Super Deluxe sets from the band's discography including the 20th anniversary edition of American Idiot (2024) and the (almost) 30th anniversary reappraisal of Dookie (2023).  The 4CD or 5LP box contains a new remaster of the original album plus eight original demos, two new mixes, various B-sides and rarities, and a previously unreleased concert recorded at SHIBUYA-AX in Tokyo in March 2001.  The LPs in the vinyl box are pressed on Green Galaxy, Yellow Marble, and Orange Galaxy vinyl. A 24-page booklet, poster, patch, button set, and sticker sheet round out that package, while the CD version boasts a 32-page booklet plus the patch, button set, and sticker. Get more details here.

Christopher Cross, The Worldwide Singles: 1980-1988 (Omnivore)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

It's more than All Right: Omnivore Recordings is revisiting Christopher Cross' major label years for a first-time collection of his original single releases.  The Worldwide Singles 1980-1988 offers 20 classic tracks - many in rare single edit or mix form - from Cross' tenure on the Warner Bros. and Reprise labels, along with a few curios from compilations. The defining hits from his self-titled debut ("Ride Like the Wind," "Sailing," "Never Be the Same") are all here, along with the Oscar-winning "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," "All Right," "Think of Laura," "Charm the Snake" and "Every Turn of the World." (True to its name, a few ex-U.S. A-sides are in the mix, like the rare Japan-only track "Mary Ann," plus deeper cuts like "Deal 'Em Again," "That Girl," and "Someday.") The 2LP set includes all those A-sides, while a 2CD set adds 10 more tracks from the albums included as B-sides (including a rare edit of Christopher Cross closer "Minstrel Gigolo"). Garrett Price, director of last year's intriguing Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary (in which Cross is featured as an interviewee), provides liner notes to the set, remastered by Michael Graves and produced by Omnivore's Cheryl Pawelski and Brad Rosenberger. Read more here.

The Black Crowes, Amorica: Super Deluxe Edition (American Recordings/UMe)

3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (signed)
5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (signed)
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (clear)
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Following recent reissues of The Black Crowes' first two albums, 1990's Shake Your Money Maker and 1992's The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion - along with an expanded edition of a live team-up with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin - the Southern rockers' third album is getting similar treatment.  The group (formed around brothers and sole consistent members Chris and Rich Robinson) will revisit 1994's Amorica as a 3CD or 180-gram 5LP set. The box will include an expanded version of the album (remastered from 1/4" production master tapes by Chris Athens and including one B-side and two newly-mixed outtakes) alongside the "lost" album Tallest plus a set of unreleased studio and live sessions. The packaging will also include an envelope of paper extras, including a fan zine featuring new interviews with the Robinsons, a poster and bumper sticker. (All copies will be packaged in black shrink wrap to obscure the album's controversial artwork - a crop from a Hustler cover that featured a female torso wearing a low-cut American bikini bottom.)  The band is also offering signed copies and a clear vinyl variant of the album on their official site.  Get the full track listing and more here.

Various Artists, Let's Play Chess: A Chess Records Anthology (Chess/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Want more Chess today?  Let's Play Chess: A Chess Records Anthology is a new 2LP set offering 25 of the label's most essential tracks from Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Etta James, and others. The set is curated by eminent drummer Steve Jordan, a known appreciator of the Chess legacy. The versatile percussionist cut his teeth playing in the house band for Saturday Night Live, and was plucked alongside a murderer's row of session legends to keep the beat when cast members John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd started covering Chess sides and soul favorites as The Blues Brothers. He also served in the backing band for the all-star 1987 concert film Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll and has been a longtime collaborator with Keith Richards of Chess disciples The Rolling Stones - and when longtime drummer Charlie Watts elected to sit out of the last leg of the Stones' No Filter Tour in 2021 shortly before his passing, he picked Jordan to take over his stool. Jordan has also penned liner notes for the collection sharing his lifelong personal appreciation for the music of Chess and its many backing musicians (who are credited in the gatefold). Read more about both of today's Chess releases here.

Ella Fitzgerald, Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles Vol. 2 (Verve/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

22 years (!) after Vol. 1 hit stores, Verve returns to finish off its Ella Fitzgerald singles series with this new 3CD set that runs the gamut from Cole Porter to The Beatles and 50 single sides spanning 1956-1967.

Frank Sinatra, In the Wee Small Hours [Tone Poet Edition] (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Frank Sinatra's 1955 classic of mood and melancholy, In The Wee Small Hours, returns to vinyl from UMe as an audiophile-quality Tone Poet edition sure to bring out the nuances in both Sinatra's intimate vocals and Nelson Riddle's masterful orchestrations.  This LP reissue of the original Capitol mono album was produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a gatefold tip-on jacket featuring photos by William Claxton and Ken Veeder.

Everything But the Girl, The Best of Everything But the Girl (Chrysalis)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

One of U.K. pop's most beloved duos is looking back with a new compilation that succinctly surveys their many albums over the last 40 years.  The Best of Everything But the Girl offers 16 tracks from the pair on one CD or two LPs, spanning their debut single (a cover of Cole Porter's "Night and Day") all the way up to 2023's Fuse - their first album in more than two decades. It includes U.K. hits like "I Don't Want to Talk About It" and "Walking Wounded," the fan favorite "Driving," and of course, their international smash "Missing," as remixed by Todd Terry. The tracks have been remastered for this album by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, and each format will include lyrics and complete credits in a booklet (16 pages for the CD and four for the 180-gram LP).

The Jesus and Mary Chain, Psychocandy: 40th Anniversary Edition (Third Man) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Third Man celebrates 40 years of The Jesus and Mary Chain's noise-pop classic Psychocandy with a newly remastered edition on CD and LP; the vinyl version has been cut by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering.

Josh Groban, Hidden Gems (Reprise) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Josh Groban's Hidden Gems brings together one new song (co-written by the crossover superstar with the team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul), two tracks new to CD (including a cover of Elton John and Bernie Taupin's "Empty Sky"), and eight rarities released on various albums and exclusive editions over the years. The 11-track collection is available on CD and digital formats.​ Read more here.

Luciano Pavarotti, The Lost Concert: Live at Llangollen 1995 (Decca)

2SACD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Decca premieres Luciano Pavarotti's recital recorded in Llangollen, North Wales in 1995 on an audio-only format for the very first time. The concert commemorated 40 years since Pavarotti and his fellow choir members from Modena won first prize in the Choral Competition at the International Eisteddfod in 1955. The 75-minute program features operatic arias from Cavalleria Rusticana, Il trovatore, Macbeth, Manon Lescaut, and La traviata, and his beloved Neapolitan songs. It also includes what are believed to be the earliest recordings ever of Pavarotti, both from 1955, and an interview/audio documentary with the late tenor reflecting on his choir's competition win. Recorded with the BBC Philharmonic (conducted by Leone Magiera), the Corale Rossini, and soprano Atzuko Kawahara, this concert preserves one of the superstar's most moving performances.  The two hybrid SACD set (playable on all CD players) includes a 100-page, LP-sized book with interviews, essays, and photos.  Also available on 2 LPs.

Bryan Ferry, Bête Noire: Deluxe Edition (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Bryan Ferry's 1987 album Bête Noire gets the expanded treatment from BMG on 2 CDs, while a remastered version is also available on 1 LP.  The 2CD edition adds a dozen alternative versions and remixes.

Gwen Stefani, You Make It Feel Like Christmas: Deluxe Edition (Interscope) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Gwen Stefani revisits her 2017 Christmas album for the second time on CD in this Amazon-exclusive deluxe edition which adds two previously unissued bonus tracks, "Shake the Snow Globe" and "Hot Cocoa."  (The bonus tracks added in 2018 are not included.)  Also available on vinyl.

Pirates! The Penzance Musical: Original Broadway Cast Recording (Center Stage Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Rupert Holmes' delightfully witty and joyful adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance - reset to New Orleans with all of the jazz flavor that implies - comes to CD and digital.  The Tony Award-nominated production stars Ramin Karimloo as The Pirate King, David Hyde Pierce as (the very model of a modern) Major General Stanley, Jinkx Monsoon as Ruth, Samantha Williams as Mabel, and Nicholas Barasch as Frederic.​

Cheap Trick, All Washed Up (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson, and Robin Zander return with Cheap Trick's 21st studio album.  It's produced by Julian Raymond and features eleven originals in the classic Trick mode.  Available on CD, LP, and digital/streaming.